Neil Young And Crazy Horse: Dume (2024/1975)
Dume is yet another “lost” Neil Young album. In the mid-’70s, Neil Young, Crazy Horse, and producer David Briggs lived in the Point Dume area of Malibu. Zuma, named after the beach they lived near, was recorded during that period. When Young was assembling his 2020 Archives Vol II box set he created Dume to combine songs from Zuma with unreleased tracks and mixes from that same period. Of the 16 tracks on Dume, half were not on Zuma. Most of the non-Zuma songs eventually found their way onto other releases (in different arrangements) including three on Rust Never Sleeps. All the Zuma tracks are represented except the CSNY song “Through My Sails.”
Zuma is one of my favorite Neil Young albums so it is a delight to have this new compilation from the Neil Young Archives series. “Cortez The Killer” is my favorite cut on the original Zuma and one of my favorite Neil Young songs. Its groove and the slow grinding lugubrious jam are the sounds that hooked me on Neil Young and Crazy Horse in the first place: heavy metal on Red Wine and Quaaludes. I absolutely love when Neil does this kind of shit. Well, Dume has plenty more. I am going to focus this review on the Dume songs that were not on Zuma. The songs marked with a # were unreleased versions of songs that appeared in other places in the Neil catalog until the Archives Vol II CD/digital box and are new to vinyl. The songs marked * were unreleased songs until the Archives Vol II box and are also new to vinyl. Here is the annotated track list focused on the non-Zuma songs:
“Ride My Llama” # is a Rust Never Sleeps track. The Dume version is full-on Crazy Horse electric grunge compared to the acoustic version on Rust. Both are great and each deserves a place in the catalog.
“Born To Run” * This is not the Bruce song. This is a song I had not heard before. It is a typical vibe of Neil and The Horse.
“Kansas” * Is another song that I have never heard before, but it fits like a glove on this album. It is classic wonderful sloppy proto-grunge from The Horse.
“Powderfinger” # is a highlight of 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps. This version is stunning: it is a pure country rock (or as we call it today Americana) song. I think I prefer it to the Rust Never Sleeps version. Rust and Live Rust were pivotal in my becoming a Neil Young fan and so this is a new essential track for me.
“Hawaii” # is another song that is new to me and represents a unique guitar sound for Neil and The Horse. It foreshadows the New Wave – by five-plus years. It has a really cool groove and sticks the landing with a great ending.
“Too Far Gone” # This song eventually appeared on Freedom (1989). The Dume version is acoustic and is begging for Mick Jagger to cover it in his ironic country voice. The Freedom version is similar, but not identical to the version on Freedom. I prefer the Dume version.
“Pocahontas” # is a folk electric version that is different enough from the Rust Never Sleeps version to be a delightful addition to the catalog.
“No One Seems To Know” # finally made its appearance on the 2018 live album Songs For Judy (as an acoustic piano version). The version on Dume is a similar acoustic piano version.
The vinyl is well mastered and pressed and this album is analog heaven. The wax sounds great on my system – it is tube extasy on the guitar solos. The packaging is nicely done – an enhanced version of the original Zuma LP. The album can be streamed on all services, including Spotify. I use Tidal and Dume is buried in the Archives Vol II compilation (tracks 99-114) in. 24 bit/192 kHz FLAC.
I get overwhelmed by the volume of the Neil Young archival releases, but Dume has muscled its way through the mess and will be a great pre-game to the Neil Young & Crazy Horse show (and new album Fu##In’ Up – which is a redo of 1990’s Ragged Glory when Neil was in his godfather of grunge era) that I will be seeing in Phoenix this spring. I am amazed at how coherent this album is and further amazed that Young was able to use these songs on other albums – especially Rust – they seemed like they belonged on Rust, but Rust and Zume are very much companions and this is even more evident after listening to Dume.
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